In the summer of 1970, just before Kirk’s fifth birthday, his parents learned about a new federally funded research program at UCLA for young boys who were showing early signs of being effeminate. Concerned that Kirk was exhibiting some of the behaviors listed by a UCLA researcher on a local television talk show, Kirk’s parents decided to take him in for an evaluation and treatment. Ten months later, Kirk’s therapy was judged a success and his parents were reassured he would now grow up to be a normal, heterosexual man.

When Kirk was undergoing treatment at UCLA, he was under the care of a young grad student by the name of George Rekers. In 1974, Rekers and his mentor, Dr. Ivar Lovaas, published a landmark paper describing “Kraig’s” treatment — “Kraig” being their pseudonym for Kirk. That paper, which appeared in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, was “the first experimental study on the subject of childhood cross-gender problems.” That paper launched Rekers’s career, first as an expert in childhood sexual development, and later as an anti-gay activist.

Kirk survived his ordeal, and he continued to grow up under relative anonymity. Neither he nor his family knew that he was the subject of nearly two decades of discussion among behavioral therapists working to change their clients’ sexual orientation. Through it all, Rekers wrote that Kirk had a “normal male identity, had normal aspirations for growing up to be married and have a family, and was well-adjusted as a teen-age boy in general.” The truth was far different. His suicide attempt at the age of seventeen was unsuccessful. But twenty years later, he took his life on December 21, 2003. He was 38.

Today we can reveal the full story behind the story. In an original BTB investigation, “What Are Little Boys Made Of?” we take you through extensive interviews with Kirk’s mother, brother and sister, ex-wife, friends, and others to bring you up to date on the truth behind Rekers’s “success.” We also investigate the state of psychology in 1970 when Kirk first came under Rekers’s care, and the profound changes that the profession underwent in the forty years since then — changes which Rekers steadfastly resisted. It is all right here.

The best and right words will fail me, but I need to say this: No human being should be sacrificed on the premise that s/he is a case study, a research project, or a test of some ideology that places belief before facts, falsehood before reason, or sheep before wolves.

The key investigator in this instance (Rekers) turned out to be the epitome of that which he hated: a man who (sexually)abused other males –and paid for the privilege– while advocating therapy that claimed to “fix” those deviations from the Holy Norm.

There’s no slack to be cut, no excuses to be made: death is death, suicide is suicide, and the blood stains will never, EVER, fade from Rekers’ hands, his lies & his falsehoods.

Jim: This is an amazing report. I just linked to it and will refer to this in the book I am now writing on sexual orientation. I wonder if an investigation into this will be launched at UCLA. Agains, well done!

Every time Family Research Council’s chief charlatan is on tv or in the news, mention of FRC’s original founding member Rekers should be mentioned to counter and debunk the stats and fiction they so earnestly call “research.” Tired of them sanctimoniously misinforming yet another generation of people. Kudos to the writer for this informative addition to our collective history.

Perhaps I’ve missed something, but it seems Rekers made some false statements in his published works (including his thesis). It would be too little, too late, but could be be stripped of his Ph.D.? It seems improper at best for him to go around with the title “Doctor”.

Thanks to you and especially to Kirk’s family. It is a sad story of where we were just a few short years ago. Hopefully an hoest look at that story will help remake it for alot of boys and their families.

“Every time Family Research Councilâ€™s chief charlatan is on tv or in the news, mention of FRCâ€™s original founding member Rekers should be mentioned to counter and debunk the stats and fiction they so earnestly call â€œresearch.â€”

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Every journalist should be made aware of the fraud that is the ex-gay industry. Their theoretical foundations are built on sand and lies.

It makes SO mad. The same lies cropping again and again and again. And also in Uganda, Lithuania, Australia, UK, Romania – everywhere it seeps like poison coming from these same liars Rekers, Cameron, NARTH (all of it!), JONAH, FRC, Focus, CWA. All lies. All of it.
Masters & Johnson – made it up. Aversion Therapy – it never worked. Reparative Therapy – doesn’t work.

I’m about fit to burst with the anger this made me feel. The infliction of pointless suffering based on so many lies.

Parents – let sissy boys and tomboy girls be, let gay boys be, let boys with pink toenails be. Love your children – just love your kids for who they are. Can it be any simpler than that?

1. In a literal manner or sense; exactly: “the driver took it literally when asked to go straight over the traffic circle”.
2. Used to acknowledge that something is not literally true but is used for emphasis or to express strong feeling

That was just gut-wrenching. I remember reading about “Kraig” when the whole luggage scandal emerged. We knew that he’d tried to kill himself as a teenager, but nothing after that. I hoped with all my heart that he was alive and happy somewhere, finally at peace with himself, maybe building a family of his own with a partner who loved him. He’d already been dead for seven years by that point.

One of the saddest things about this story is that Kirk displayed so many textbook symptoms of clinical depression. If Rekers hadn’t trained him to fear and distrust therapists, he may have gotten help and never killed himself. Of course, if not for Rekers, he probably wouldn’t have needed that help to begin with.

Thank you so much for writing this. It was a great piece, beautifully written. Definitely something to show those nay-sayers who claim that bloggers never do original reporting. I’ll also make sure to watch AC360’s special on the subject tonight.

I just recently wrote a satire about a Gay Agenda, in which I fantasized about how to deal with “Ex Gays,” George Rekers and the many other fear-â€‹mongering liars, frauds and hypocrites that use religion to justify their homophobia and marginalize, humiliate, electrocute and murder others. A previous version I wrote was picked up by CWFA’s Matt Barber and Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth — more of these sick, homophobic, child-abusive parasites — and selectively presented to their followers as a candid and factual agenda. Having absorbed Kirk’s treatment and the impact it had on him and his family since I read it last night, I wonder whether some of the over-the-top, Clockwork Orangeish agenda items relating to homophobia and conversion therapy I imagined shouldn’t be reconsidered non satirically. (http://thenewcivilrightsmovement.com/the-gay-agenda/farce/2011/06/07/21420)

Any “treatment” that involves baiting a child and then relentlessly beating him for his choices is not treatment but abuse. This poor boy was horrendously abused, and Rekers engineered it. He’s a monster, an utterly depraved monster and he deserves to be locked up. The parents have a lot of explaining to do as well I think.

Rekers enjoyed employment at the University of South Carolina during his years before moving to Florida. I did not know anything about him except that he was that man who made me very uncomfortable in the communal shower at the Solomon Blatt PE Center on campus. He was a regular at the PE Center and he had a way of hanging around and staring at naked men in the shower. I figured he was just another aging shower goblin with serious issues, so I avoided him and went to another shower whenever I saw he was present in the locker room. I didn’t know who he was until the rent-boy scandal broke. It explains everything.

@Priya
let it go. you’re wrong.http://www.thefreedictionary.com/literallyhttp://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/literallyhttp://dictionary.sensagent.com/literally/en-en/
all of those definitions include some form of “literally as intensifier” definition as well as some form of this:
â€”Usage note
Since the early 20th century, literally has been widely used as an intensifier meaning â€œin effect, virtually,â€ a sense that contradicts the earlier meaning â€œactually, without exaggerationâ€: The senator was literally buried alive in the Iowa primaries. The parties were literally trading horses in an effort to reach a compromise. The use is often criticized; nevertheless, it appears in all but the most carefully edited writing. Although this use of literally irritates some, it probably neither distorts nor enhances the intended meaning of the sentences in which it occurs. The same might often be said of the use of literally in its earlier sense â€œactuallyâ€: The garrison was literally wiped out: no one survived.

Desiree some dictionaries report on how a word is used, not what usage is correct or logical. That the non-literal definition of literally is wrong is seen in the second definition Andrew gave “Used to acknowledge that something is not literally true”.

That second “defintion” acknowledges that literally means “actually happened” and points out the illogic of saying “literally means not literally”. When people start using the word literally when its clear they are exagerating it becomes impossible to use an unambiguous way to say “I’m not exagerating” as using it in exagerattions calls into question every time it is used and suggests the person is exagerrating when they are not.

Using literally when one doesn’t mean literally is childish, ignorant, incorrect, and illogical.

And Desiree, two of your definitions agree with me, not you. Merriam Webster gives a second meaning as “In effect, virtually”. To say “my blood virtually boiled” is obviously not the case. The second dictionary you gave mentioned the “intensifier” usage but said it is a PROBLEM. Most dictionaries recognize that literally means “actually happned” and that saying “my blood was literally boiling” is stupid.

I’m with Jim. In the midst of discussion about the tragedy caused by irresponsible activism-based “research”, you’re arguing over whether “literally” can be used in some way or other. Why?

Why was it even “corrected” in the first place?

Maybe rather than “being right” and making sure that others know that they are using a word incorrectly, we can put our focus on the fact that a life was destroyed, a family was torn apart, and an entire anti-gay industry was bolstered out of one man’s desire to create a “scientific” basis for the war he was waging against his own personal unhappiness.

In this original BTB Investigation, we unveil the tragic story of Kirk Murphy, a four-year-old boy who was treated for “cross-gender disturbance” in 1970 by a young grad student by the name of George Rekers. This story is a stark reminder that there are severe and damaging consequences when therapists try to ensure that boys will be boys.

When we first reported on three American anti-gay activists traveling to Kampala for a three-day conference, we had no idea that it would be the first report of a long string of events leading to a proposal to institute the death penalty for LGBT people. But that is exactly what happened. In this report, we review our collection of more than 500 posts to tell the story of one nation’s embrace of hatred toward gay people. This report will be updated continuously as events continue to unfold. Check here for the latest updates.

In 2005, the Southern Poverty Law Center wrote that “[Paul] Cameron’s ‘science’ echoes Nazi Germany.” What the SPLC didn”t know was Cameron doesn’t just “echo” Nazi Germany. He quoted extensively from one of the Final Solution’s architects. This puts his fascination with quarantines, mandatory tattoos, and extermination being a “plausible idea” in a whole new and deeply disturbing light.

From the Inside: Focus on the Family’s “Love Won Out”

On February 10, I attended an all-day “Love Won Out” ex-gay conference in Phoenix, put on by Focus on the Family and Exodus International. In this series of reports, I talk about what I learned there: the people who go to these conferences, the things that they hear, and what this all means for them, their families and for the rest of us.

Using the same research methods employed by most anti-gay political pressure groups, we examine the statistics and the case studies that dispel many of the myths about heterosexuality. Download your copy today!

Anti-gay activists often charge that gay men and women pose a threat to children. In this report, we explore the supposed connection between homosexuality and child sexual abuse, the conclusions reached by the most knowledgeable professionals in the field, and how anti-gay activists continue to ignore their findings. This has tremendous consequences, not just for gay men and women, but more importantly for the safety of all our children.

Anti-gay activists often cite the “Dutch Study” to claim that gay unions last only about 1½ years and that the these men have an average of eight additional partners per year outside of their steady relationship. In this report, we will take you step by step into the study to see whether the claims are true.

Tony Perkins’ Family Research Council submitted an Amicus Brief to the Maryland Court of Appeals as that court prepared to consider the issue of gay marriage. We examine just one small section of that brief to reveal the junk science and fraudulent claims of the Family “Research” Council.

The FBI’s annual Hate Crime Statistics aren’t as complete as they ought to be, and their report for 2004 was no exception. In fact, their most recent report has quite a few glaring holes. Holes big enough for Daniel Fetty to fall through.